You may want to start body building and start entering competitions, but before this you need to know your own body. Know what your limits are and what suits you most. Your body has a story to tell so you have to listen to make sure you do not end up getting injured. Your body and the way you treat it is your own responsibility, so take care of what you have been given.
Muscle building is not without its pain barriers but if you are in serious pain then damage is more than likely being done to your body. You will need to know whereabouts your major organs and muscles are, so you can have some knowledge of if damage is being done and to what. If you have a personal coach then you will be discussing these major organs and muscles quite a lot, so you need to have some degree of knowledge. Regarding pain in muscle building, you will soon come to know what is normal and what is not when you are working out. Stop immediately if you think you are doing yourself any harm or an injury has occured. Never continue and push through the pain, you could end up with an injury that cannot be repaired fully.
Take measurements of your body every week, as you will never be able to see the changes with your naked eye straight away but you will be able to tell when you measure yourself accurately. Seeing as though the changes are gradual, it is better to take the measurements every week and write them down, it will make you feel like you are really acheiving something if you can see the differences in ink. Whereas if you cannot see any change in the mirror, you may become tempted to overtrain and possibly causing yourself injury in the process. You could also take photographs and compare them each other and then you will be able to see how far exactly you have come.
Have a detailed work out plan as well and write down all the exercises you do and the areas of your body that you have worked out, this way you will not overwork one area of the body and miss out on others. This will help you to avoid injury in the long run as well.
Listen to the muscle building experts, they are there to help you after all. Employ the knowledge of a good nutritionist and a personal trainer. Make sure you always seek advice from your doctor before you start a bodybuilding program so that you can make sure that everything is okay before you start body building.
